Baxter to work to contain Mexico flu outbreak

April 25, 2009

Deerfield-based medical product giant Baxter International Inc. is working with the World Health Organization on a potential vaccine to curb the spread of the swine flu outbreak in Mexico, the company confirmed today.

Baxter, which has a growing vaccine business, has worked with foreign countries in the past to develop vaccines for the H5N1 virus commonly known as bird flu. Baxter has a cell-based technology that allows the company to more rapidly produce vaccines in the event of a pandemic than a decades-old method that uses eggs to process vaccines and can take weeks or even months longer.

"Upon learning about the swine flu outbreak in Mexico yesterday, Baxter requested a virus sample from WHO to do laboratory testing for potentially developing an experimental vaccine," company spokesman Christopher Bona told the Tribune this afternoon. "Baxter has research and development and manufacturing pandemic planning expertise to rapidly develop candidate vaccines against potentially emerging influenza viruses."

In the past, Baxter has developed vaccines and worked with countries to stockpile vaccines even while they undergo experimental testing. The idea behind the government stockpiles, in the case of the bird flu, for example, is to prepare against outbreak.

The company would not say whether the U.S. or other countries have contacted Baxter. Other companies, too, develop vaccines and have been used to stockpile vaccines. It's unclear whether other vaccine makers have also contacted the WHO.

Because it's so early in the vaccine development process, Baxter would not estimate on when a candidate vaccine would emerge for potential use.

The Mexican government is working to control a swine flu outbreak that has killed more than 65 people and potentially infected more than 1,000 in recent weeks, according to government and news reports.